Means for transporting oil.



E. N. MILLS.

MEAN-S FOR TRANSPORTING OIL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1910.

Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT oniuon.

EDWARD N. MILLS, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF TO CHARLESE. HAILSTONE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

MEANS FOR TBANSPORTING OIL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. '7, 1911.

Application filed September 26, 1910. Serial No. 583,760.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD N. MILLS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Transporting Oil,of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus fortransporting oil in pipe lines, the object of the invention being toprovide means for transporting oil which shall be economical inoperation, and in which the oil when so transported will rapidly becomein condition for further use or treatment.

The present method generally adopted for transporting oil is by means ofpipes, which, in the case of heavy oils, are rifled, water being mixedwith the oil to cause it to flow more readily in said pipes. Upon theoil arriving at its destination, it has to be freed from the water bydistillation and other methods, this process being expensive as well asslow.

The object of the present invention is to provide means to avoid thesedefects.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side View of an apparatus forcarrying out my improved method; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of amixing cylinder; Fig. 8 is an enlarged View of the air nozzle; Fig. 4 isan enlarged section of the nozzle plate.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a tank containing the oil to betransported. From said tank the oil is impelled by a pump 2 into a pipe3, by which it is conducted to a tank a at the point of destination.

My invention consists in mixing the oil with infinitesimal particles orbubbles of air, so as to convert it into a froth or foam, and in thiscondition conducting it by said pipe 3 to a distant point. I do notlimit my invention to any specific means for creating this foamlikecondition in the oil, but show only one of many means by-which saidcondition may be created. The means here shown consist of a nozzle 6connected with a compressed air pump 7 which nozzle is contained in amixing chamber 8 interposed between the oil pump and the pipe line 3.Said nozzle is of an expanded form and the air issues therefrom throughholes 9 in a nozzle plate 10, there being a large number of such holes,and these holes being very minute. The number of such holes is so largeand they are so minute that they cannot be properly illustrated in thedrawing which is in this respect only diagrammatic. The holes 9preferably converge or taper outward. It is important that the airissuing from said nozzle shall be subdivided into streams as minute aspossible in order that the bubbles or particles of air confined in theoil may be as small as possible. The length of time during which the oilretains its foamlike condition increases with the degree of smallnessofthese particles or bubbles of air.

The mixing chamber is formed on its inner wall with helical ribs orvanes 12 which impart to the oil passing therethrough a rotary motion.The oil having this rotary motion cuts or divides the streams of airinto infinitesimal bubbles. In this condition the oil is very easilyconveyed through the pipe.

I am aware that it has been proposed to transport water in a pipe byprojecting jets of compressed air thereinto in the direction of thepipe. Such appliances and processes, which may be successfully used fortransporting water in a pipe, are not practicable for transporting oil,for the reason that, as compared with water, oil is a very sluggish,viscid and tenacious liquid, traveling in a pipe like molasses. Ordinarymethods of transporting water in apipe are therefore quite useless fortransporting oil. This transportation can only be effected by reducingthe oil into a foamlike condition so that the dark brown oil becomes ofa character like light brown soapsuds. To bring it to this condition itis necessary that the bubbles of air introduced thereinto should beextremely numerous and very minute, and that the jets of air should beforced through holes certainly not more than 1/l6th. of an inch indiameter and preferably much smaller than this, and also that, when soforced, each jet should not be allowed to issue in a continuous streamof air, but should be broken up into fine particles. I have found, inexperimental apparatus of this character, that crude oil thus reduced toa foamlike condition, remains apparently unchanged after travelingthrough a pipe 2 and miles long, showing that its condition, necessaryfor rapid transportation in the pipe, would remain unchanged for muchlonger distances.

It is also an important feature of my invention that some extraneousforce must be employed, in addition to the air pressure, to force theoil along the pipe. My eXperi ments appear to show that it is notpossible to force oil along the pipe by the mere pressure of the jets ofcompressed air. These can only be used to perform their function ofreducing the oil to a foamlike condition, and the ordinary pumpingapparatus, such as is at present used for pumping oil in pipe lines, orsome equivalent apparatus, must still be employed to force the oil alongthe pipe.

I claim l. The method of transporting oil in a pipe which consists inmixing it with minute bubbles of air to form a foam and applyingpressure thereto, substantially as described.

2. The method of transporting oil in a pipe which consists in mixing itwith minute bubbles of air to form a foam and applying pressure otherthan that of the air to transport the oil in said pipe, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

EDVARD N. MILLS. lVitnesses:

F. M. WVRIGHT, N. B. KEATING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

